


Burn The Pages

by Haroldmay (abirdonalilactree)



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: First Dates, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Happy Ending, Humor, Humor and Fluff, M/M, Romance, This is pretty chaotic but whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:07:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27472483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abirdonalilactree/pseuds/Haroldmay
Summary: Prompt:  It’s a slow night at the pub where Daniel works, especially for a Friday. There are only a few customers scattered around the tables, and only one man at the bar. He’s been nursing the same beer for half an hour, and he keeps checking his phone and rolling his eyes.“Is everything alright?” Daniel asks when he walks past the man again.“Yes, yes,” the man says irritably. “I’m just, ah, waiting for something.”
Relationships: Daniel Condren/Kevin O'Reilly
Comments: 27
Kudos: 34
Collections: Kevin-Day2020





	1. The Pub

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ddaydream](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddaydream/gifts).



> Disclaimer: This was written for fun and is not intended to harm anyone. Please, be respectful of their friendship. And let this stay in its own little corner of the internet.
> 
> ~~~
> 
> This was written for the Kevin-Birthday-Fic-Exchange (WEEEEOOOOWWWWW)

It’s a slow night at the pub where Daniel works, especially for a Friday. There are only a few customers scattered around the tables, and only one man at the bar. He’s been nursing the same beer for half an hour, and he keeps checking his phone and rolling his eyes.

“Is everything alright?” Daniel asks when he walks past the man again.

“Yes, yes,” the man says irritably.

“I’m just, ah, waiting for something.”, he says, without even looking up from his phone.

“Everyone who has to wait for more than an hour for a date, gets a drink on the house.”, Daniel said.

“It’s not a date. Just cinema with a friend. But I’d appreciate a drink on the house.”

“Alright, but don’t tell my boss.”, Dan chuckled.

“Thank you.”, the man said and finally looked up. He had very pretty eyes. 

Daniel tried not to stare at him, as he made the third special irish cocktail of the day.

“What’s that?”, the man asked.

“It’s a modern take on that classic. The **_Irish winter_** adds a couple of interesting touches. For this recipe, you’ll keep the Irish whiskey and black coffee. To give it a sweeter, creamier profile, you’ll bring in a coffee liqueur and an Irish cream. It’s simple, flavourful, and a perfect way to shake up your spiked coffee routine.”, Daniel cited the handbook dramatically with a grin.

“It’s disgusting. I love it.”

Daniel couldn’t help but smile back.

“What do you do for a living? You remind me of a chef or maybe…”, Daniel started.

“If I told you, I had to kill you. But I can’t kill you, because my license to kill is in my car and my car is at the garage and I won’t get it back until next week. So I unfortunately can’t tell you.”

Daniel laughed.

The other man smiled, watching him laugh. Now that he was looking at the other man with more interest, he seemed nervous.

“And what do you do for a living?”

“Well…”, Daniel said and gestured around.

“Oh. Feck. I’m sorry. Fecking hell. Of course you work here.”, the man hid his face behind his hands.

“It’s ok. You wouldn’t know how often I get asked that.”

“Twice?”

“Yes, twice. The other one was-”

“Keviiiiiin! I’m so sorry I’m late.”, Kiwo yelled through the whole Pub as she entered it. Everyone looked up, as she high heeled over to the man with the beer at the bar.

“Her.”, Daniel said quietly.

“I was fashionably late but you were two fecking hours late. Jesus Christ.”, Kevin said.

He stood up and they gave each other a quick hug.

Then Kiwo walked over and hugged Daniel.

“Kiwo.”, he said in surprise.

“Kevin, this is Dan and Dan this is Kevin. You two are going to exchange numbers.”

They both looked at her in surprise.

Then they looked at each other.

With more and more interest, Dan had watched the man sitting at the bar for more than an hour. He was wearing a white pullover and now that he stood up, he could see that he was very tall.

Daniel on the other hand was wearing his purple shirt and black pants, like he always did for work. He wished he had chosen something different this day. Kevin was still looking at him with these beautiful eyes and a soft but shy smile and --what was the question again?

“Come on we don’t have all night.”, Kiwo said.

“Kiwo-”

“You both like video games and you both like causing chaos. Also you both keep being annoying about wanting a boyfriend. There you go.” She made a handgesture between them.

“Do you know how to play Payday 2?”, Kevin asked.

“Yes-”

“Pencil?”

With a grin, Kiwo took a pencil out of her huge purse and handed it over to Kevin.

He opened the pen with his teeth, before he took Dans hand and wrote his number on his arm.

Dan’s knees suddenly got extremely weak at that.

“We are going to watch a movie -would you like to join us?”, Kevin asked.

“I can’t. My shift will go for about two more hours.”

“Then how about tomorrow?”

“I’m free tomorrow, yeah.”

“Good. I’ll text you then.”

And with that Kiwo hugged him a goodbye and Dan watched them leave.

What in the world had just happened?

~~~

Every few minutes he kept reaching for his phone and deciding differently way too often before he took all of his bravery together and finally sent a text message.

D: hey

D: this is Daniel

D: the guy from the bar

K: which one?

D: the handsome one

D: tall. irish. blue eyes.

K: i remember

K: ;)

D: hows the movie?

K: boring

K: kiwos asleep

K: if you were here we could throw popcorn at her

K: together

Daniel smiled at that.

He almost dropped his phone as someone put their hand on his shoulder.

“Condren, put your phone away. Table three is very unhappy.”, his colleague suddenly said.

~~~

Half an hour later, Dan hid in the bathroom stall and took his notebook out of his pocket. He hadn’t done that in a long time, but now there was this idea, he just had to get out of his system, because it was haunting him and it was hard to concentrate on anything else. So he sat there, notebook on his knees and a small pen in his hand.

He started writing, like he hadn’t written -probably in years.

_The hero of this story met the handsome stranger in the old cafeteria._

“ _So that_ ’ _s how we meet again._ ”

“ _Indeed._ ”

_“I had seen you near the ventilation system.”_

_“What do you want to say?”_

“ _That’s sus.”, he said._

_They sat together and drank their drinks for a while in silence. And as he watched him, the man in the purple shirt tried to take in every feature of the tall handsome irish man, since he had never met anyone quite like him._

_“I have to do my tasks now.”, the man in the purple shirt finally said._

_“Me too.”_

_They looked each other for a long time before they went they separate ways._

Daniel took a deep breath. What was he doing? Already a long time ago, he had been tired of working in the pub, …but he had to pay the bills somehow.

He smiled when he thought about the person he had just met.

Then he kept writing.

_The man in the white_ shirt _had a love for fire and destruction, while the man in the purple shirt hated the Dublin spire with all his heart._

 _Everyone loved the man in the white shirt with the cowboy hat for a reason they couldn_ ’ _t quite explain. With his beautiful singing voice and his charisma, the man in the white shirt had the personality of a cult leader._

_Many crew members wanted to be his boyfriend, but there was only one person that owned his heart._

_But the man in the purple shirt didn’t know this. His boots made loud clacking sounds as he walked alone through electric._

_Everyone knew electric was a death trap. The moment he finished his task, he froze as he noticed he wasn_ ’ _t alone._

 _The man in the orange shirt_ _stood behind him laser gun raised._

_Was this how he was going to die?_

_The sound of a laser gun rang in his ears and he prepared to greet death._

_His eyes closed, he stood there waiting for the pain, but nothing happened._

_When he opened his eyes again, the orange shirt was painted in red, as was lieing in front of him. Standing above him, was the man in the white shirt, laser gun still smoking._

_He touched his cowboy hat as a greeting._

_The man in the purple shirt didn_ ’ _t know what to say. The tall handsome man with the blue eyes had just saved him._

“ _You can thank me later. We need to get out of here._ ” _, he said._

_And then he took his hand._

_The man in the purple shirt_ _had never been in the ventilation system before. The metal was cold against his hands as he crawled forward and forward, following the man in the white shirt, wherever he might lead him._

_Hopefully to freedom._

_After a long time they managed to escape the ventilation system. Meanwhile the lights had went out and somehow they ended up in the cafeteria again._

_It was quiet._

“ _Jeeez. It_ ’ _s been you the whole time._ ” _, the man in the purple shirt finally managed to say._

“ _Fecking hell, I can explain._ ”

“ _You don_ ’ _t need to explain anything._ ” _, the young man with the fluffy hazelnut hair said and grabbed his saviours’ hand._

“ _Are you on my side?_ ”

_The man in the purple shirt_ _thought about how mean the other crew members had been and how much swearing and baseless accusations in their meetings had been._

_And how tired he had grown of the monotonous tasks._

“ _I_ ’ _m on your side I won_ ’ _t say anything._ ”

“ _Good._ ”

_The man in the white shirt raised his laser gun and all the colour left the other man#s cheeks._

_The sound of the laser gun rang in his ears and behind him the man in thecyan shirt fell to the floor. His hands had been just about to reach the emergency button when the beam cut him in half._

“ _Don_ ’ _t look._ ” _, the man in the white shirt said softly._ “ _It_ ’ _s only us now._ ”

“ _I - I_ ’ _m going to fix the lights now._ ” _, the man in the purple shirt said quietly._

“ _And I_ ’ _m going to get rid of the bodies._ ”

_While the shorter one connected wires he listened to the man with the voice of an angel singing ring of fire._

_It was his favourite song. The only thing that reminded him of what life had been like on earth._

_But maybe they would come back one day._

_The singing stopped when the lights went on again._

_When he turned, the man in the white shirt stood behind him. He smiled._

“ _I’m like an onion._ ” _, the tall handsome Irish man said._

_“What do you mean?”_

_“I’m wearing too many layers.”_

_The man in the purple shirt bit his lips._

“ _In space._ ” _, the handsome man said,_ “ _No one will hear you scream, they say._ ”

“ _Are you saying you want to make me scream?_ ”

Dan hesitated. But then he crossed out the last few lines again.

No. Not yet.

“ _I can_ ’ _t believe they ejected the man in the pink shirt out of the Spaceship._ ”, _the man in the purple shirt whispered._

 _“Everyone kept ignoring me. But you…”, the tall handsome irish man said._ _“Your old commander said I’d be staying at the Château but I’ll thank my men for getting it wrong. It’s much more beautiful here with you.”_

_They watched the galaxies through the window of the spaceship together._

“ _I can_ ’ _t imagine a life without you._ ” _, the shorter one replied._

“Daniel! Your break is over! You can’t hide on the toilet forever. Except for you are having-”

Daniel flushed the toilet and opened the door.

“-again. Don’t forget to wash your hands.”

~~~

His heart stopped when he saw the handsome str- Kevin entering the pub not long before they would have to close.

“Hi.”, Kevin said.

“Hi. What are you doing here?”

“Brought you the rest of the popcorn. You can keep it and throw it at Kiwo the next time you see her.”

“Thank you. That was a very… thoughtful gift.”

“You are welcome. Do I see you tomor- I mean later today?”

“Yeah.”, was the only thing Dan was able to say.

“Ok then. I’ll see you later today.”

As he turned to leave, a piece of paper fell out of Kevin’s pocket and Dan quickly picked it up. But as he got back to his feet, Kevin was already gone. 

And as Dan opened the door, the streets were empty except for a few drunk teenagers.

Ok, no problem. He would see Kevin the next day anyway and he could just give it back.

Maybe it was just a shopping list or something. He could take a photo and send it to Kevin in case he wanted to go shopping the next morning.

Carefully, Dan unfolded the paper, leaning against one of the empty tables of the pub.

This was not a shopping list.

He squinted at the untidy handwriting.

This was a list of names.

86 of them.

~~~


	2. The Restaurant

He should have just said ‘no’.

It was as simple as that.

He should have stayed at home, drank a nice cup of tea and kept writing on his book.

But no, he had to do it. Curiosity usually killed the cat. But now it might kill the Daniel, he thought to himself. Then he quickly got out his notebook to write down this genius line while he waited for his date to arrive. What if he was a serial killer? You could never know what kind of people you would meet, when….

_No_.

He shook his head to himself. This was ridiculous.

Kiwo knew where he was. It had been her idea after all to get two of her best friends together. Kiwo knew both of them. He trusted her judgement. At least most of the time.

As he checked his watch he quietly cursed.

Stupid Kiwo always had to play matchmaker.

On the other hand she had a one hundred percent rate of people staying together when-

He sighed once more.

Dan had to admit he really liked that guy, Kiwo had set him up with. They had already written hundreds of text messages during the day and he was funny and cute and-

was terrible at spelling.

Kevin had made him laugh during the day with exchanging terrible pick up lines back and forth.

K: Is your name Google? Because you have everything I’ve been searching for ;)

D: Have you ever been arrested? It must be illegal to look that good ;)

K: ;) Actually I have been arrested twice 

K: ;)

He was so adorable.

He also already was at least an hour late.

Dan wouldn’t wait for much longer.

Currently, he sat in some fancy restaurant. Soft music was playing in the background. In the middle of the table stood a candle. The light was dimmed. People were only whispering. And … Daniel hated it.

He would have much preferred to go eat some cheap burgers, some dry pizza or soggy fries. Just some place, he wouldn’t have to wear the expensive suit his brother had gave to him, which made him feel like he was a penguin at a funeral.

Hell, right now he would have preferred to sit at his desktop at home and finally write some more lines.

The book wasn’t going well at the moment. Hadn’t been going well for a while. It just didn’t feel -real. Something was missing and he didn’t really know what.

His heart made an almost painful jump, when he saw the tall handsome irish man approach him. Kevin gave him a little wave, before he put some flowers and chocolates on the table, close to Daniel.

“Hello, there, friend-”, Kevin started, then stopped himself.

“Hi, Kevin.”

He sat down opposite of him. Kevin was wearing a grey three piece suit which looked amazing on him. His smile was friendly and his grey-blue eyes were even shining in the dim light.

“Is that blood on your sleeve?”, Dan asked as his eyes had wandered from his face, downwards.

“Oh. Yeah… Don’t worry. It’s not mine.”, Kevin said with a charming smile.

Daniel laughed. This date had gotten already a whole lot more interesting.

Maybe it wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

“Who’s is it then?”

Kevin leaned forward and instinctively, Dan did the same.

“If I told you, I would have to send you to the fishes.”, the taller one whispered, still a slight smile on his face.

“Hmm.”

“No, really. Would you like to go to the Aquarium with me?”, Kevin asked.

“Sure. So… second date will be looking at fishes.”

“Maybe they also have dolphins. What do you say?”

Daniel’s heart made this little jumpy thing again.

“I’d say I’d love to go on a second date with you.”

Kevin chuckled while Dan bit his lips. Was he sounding too needy already?

This guy came in one hour and 25 minutes late for their first date, smiled at him, made two stupid jokes and had already swept him off his feet.

“Have you already ordered something?”, Kevin asked after a while of them just chatting about nothing important.

“Just water.”

Kevin waved for the waiter but got ignored.

Dan also raised his hand but the waiter continued ignoring them.

“May I take a sip?”, Kevin asked.

“Sure. Go ahead.”

Kevin took the glass and emptied it. “Room temperature water is my favourite drink, too. We have so much in common.”, he said and again Dan had to laugh as little butterflies started forming in his stomach.

They watched the waiter walking between the tables but still, he ignored them.

“Would you like to go somewhere else?”, Kevin asked finally when he noticed how nervous Daniel seemed.

“Yes, please.”, Dan answered a little bit too fast.

Kevin immediately stood up.

“Wait, I’ll have to pay for the water.”

“No, you don’t —this was very clearly tapwater.”, Kevin said. “Let’s get out of here.”

Dan quickly took the roses and the chocolates Kevin had brought him and followed him outside, hurriedly.

While they walked side by side, he hugged the roses close.

“Look at that fecking view!”, Kevin suddenly said as he looked up. The stars and planets were shining brightly.

“Let’s sit down for a moment.”, Daniel said pointing at a bench close by. They had been walking for a while and the new shoes he had bought specifically for this date were killing him.

“Sure.”

“I almost forgot, you forgot this in the pub last night.”, Dan said as he got out the list with the 86 names from his pocket.

“Oh, thank you so much! I was looking for it.”

“What do the names mean?”

“Nothing. They are- they are just names from a video game.”

Dan nodded, relieved.

Suddenly Kevin’s phone beeped.

“Excuse me for a second. Please, don’t go anywhere.”, he said.

Dan nodded and Kevin quickly disappeared behind a corner, taking the call.

Shuddering from the cold wind, he watched the sky for a moment. Then he took a small notebook from his pocket, thought of Kevin’s blue eyes and started writing.

_He was looking for his chicken family out in the fields. Surrounded by cornfields as far as he could see, he couldn’t find them._

_“Charlotte? Melanie? Kokoshka? Where are you?”, he yelled. Not a single chicken answered. The cold wind was tugging on his clothes as he stepped through the mud, his pretty boots sinking into the ground. Suddenly there was a strange noise._

_“Charlotte?”_

_Bright lights covered the sky. Then everything went completely dark._

_When he opened his eyes again, there was a bright light. His back hurt from lying on a concrete-like surface. It was cold. Very cold. When he turned his head, he suddenly looked into some bright blue eyes. He blinked. A handsome tall Irish man looked back. But something felt slightly off. “Welcome to my space ship Turgtanic.”, the man said._

_“Why am I here?”_

_“Oh, just some experiments.You have nice legs, human, if the drawings of you are anything to go by.”_

_He slowly took his boots off and..._

_Suddenly there was a loud metallic sound to be heard. A clonking sound. Then the alarm went off. He looked out the window. Then he saw it. The chickens were attacking the space ship._

_Then everything went dark._

_When he opened his eyes there weren_ ’ _t clouds in front of the windows anymore. There were trees._

_The ship had crashed into a forest. He heard a groaning right next to him. The Alien was lieing on the floor. He tried to wake him. He was still breathing but unconscious. Our hero took him and half carried/half pulled him out of the crashed space ship, as a fire started burning._

_But now the alien couldn_ ’ _t go back to his home planet. And our hero couldn’t just leave him in the forest..._

When he heard Kevin coming back he quickly hid the notebook again.

“Who was it? You seem nervous.”, Dan asked as Kevin sat next to him on the bench.

“This was just my mom. She bought a poster for me of-”

“Do you lie often?”

“Every time I say I read and agreed to the terms of use.”

Dan bit his lips, staring at the floor.

Kevin nudged him gently. “Kiwo called. She wants to know how it’s going.”

“Why did she only call you?”, Dan asked as he took his phone. “Oh. 5 missed calls.”

“Classic Kiwo.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I think it’s going well, but I’m also starving. Let’s get Burgers and chips. Shall we?”

He reached out a hand and Dan took it with a smile. And hand in hand they walked to the cheapest burger place in all of Dublin. Daniel couldn’t be happier.

~~~


	3. Cheap Burgers

It was a clear night and they could see the stars through the dirty windows of the burger restaurant. Some very loud teens were there. But they barely noticed any of this, fully concentrating on each other.

As they waited for some soggy burgers and room temperature lemonade to be prepared, Kevin said: “Tell me more about your job!”

“Ok… So. Once this guy -short lad with the longest beard I have ever seen- got into a fight, because he got accused of stealing a chicken 50 years ago.”

“Did he? Steal that chicken?”, Kevin asked leaning forward.

“No. …It was a turkey.”

They laughed.

“If you liked this story, then let me tell you about that funeral that was celebrated at the Pub for one of our best costumers.”

“You can celebrate funerals at a Pub?”

“Yeah. And it happens occasionally. So we have this huge party for him. -and guess who is back at his usual seat a week later.”

“What?”

“Yeah, this guy faked his own death. He still comes every thursday.”

“Wow.”

“Weirdly enough this wasn’t the only fake funeral.”

“What a mad lad.”

Kevin looked at him with a soft smile and for some reason Dan felt himself blush and he looked away.

“I could listen to your voice all night.”, Kevin said.

“Tell me about yourself, too.”, Dan said quietly.

“There isn’t much to say. I’m not that interesting.”

Suddenly a grumpy teen smacked two plates with burgers in front of them.

They both took a bite and it was so awful, Dan had to laugh.

“How is yours?”, Kevin asked.

“It’s terrible. I love it.”, Dan mumbled with a full mouth.

“Mine is great. The best one I ever ate.”

“Oof.”

“Want a bite?”

“We both got the same burger.”

“I wasn’t talking about the burger-”, Kevin said with a wink.

“Yes-”

“I was talking about the chocolate bar in my pocket. It’s not even that old.”

They smiled at each other and Dan’s stomach was fluttering but it wasn’t caused by the burger. Ok, maybe a little bit.

~~~

“I’m sorry that the restaurant we went to first was so shitty.”, Kevin said quietly.

“It’s ok. Don’t worry about it. I like it a lot better here.”

“But at the restaurant we could have danced together and-”

“-And we you would have never eaten the best burgers of your life.”

“True.”, Kevin chuckled.

“If you want to dance, we can do it right now.”, Dan said and cleaned his hands on his pants.

Kevin got even paler as Careless Whisper started playing. “I only want to dance if you want to dance.”

Dan smiled and stood up, reaching out a hand: “Kevin o’Reilly, will you dance with me?”

He looked up at him with huge eyes and seemed frozen for a moment.

"Please.", Dan added quietly.

“I will.”, Kevin finally said and took his hand.

The teenagers still sitting at the other table applauded and Kevin went from really pale to really red.

Then they stood in the middle of the room and Kevin held both of his hands tightly and didn’t know what to do.

The shorter one smiled: “To say it with the words of my old dance teacher: relax and let yourself be pushed across the dancefloor like shopping cart.”

Dan placed both hands on his hips while Kevin wrapped both arms around his shoulders. 

“When I take a step, you take a step.”, he said.

Kevin just nodded, biting his lips.

As they slowly moved to the rhythm of the song, Dan whispered: “Did you ever play Just Dance?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Well, then you should definitely try it.”

He could feel the warmth radiating from Kevin as he dipped him.

The teenagers applauded again when the song ended and Dan did a little bow while Kevin focused on the floor and went back to their table.

“Thank you for the dance.”, Dan chuckled as he sat down.

“The other table wanted to send you this.”, the grumpy teenager that had served them the burgers said as she smacked a plate with cake and two forks in front of them.

~~~

“May I bring you to your car?”, Kevin asked maybe two hours later of them just talking and laughing and telling each other stories -and also dancing to ring of fire.

“Yeah, it’s not even very far from here.”

Kevin took his hand. They walked quickly, since it was dark and they were alone on the street.

“There it is.”, Dan finally said.

He leaned against the car, looking at the taller one with a soft smile. He was so pretty. They stood in silence for a while just looking at each other.

“May I kiss you goodbye?”, Kevin asked, leaning closer, very slowly, as he waited for an answer. He rested his hands on Dan’s hips and he could feel his warmth through the fabric, while Dan pulled him closer by the arms.

“No.”, Dan said, suddenly.

“Oh, feck. I’m so sorry.”, Kevin said stepping back as he let go of him.

“Shit, sorry, that’s not what I meant.” He took both his hands and pulled him close again. “I’m going to drive you home, Kevin.”

“Thank you.”, the taller one said looking very relieved and made Dan’s heart pound even faster.

“You could give me a Thank-You-Kiss…”, Dan said and closed his eyes leaning closer.

He felt strong arms wrapping around him and soft lips kissing his cheek very carefully.

“Thank you.”, Kevin whispered and it was like, he could feel the words on his skin.

Dan felt like his heart was leaving his chest and he was unable to stand because his legs were giving in, but luckily Kevin was holding him and then even very swiftly helped him into his car.

~~~

They drove through a forest for a long time and just kept talking. Dan loved the way Kevin listened to him and was interested in the things he was paaionate about.

“So… what kind of books are you writing? Like. What is the genre called?”, Kevin asked.

“Adventure, Fantasy …some more serious stuff…”

“Also Romance novels?”

“I’ve tried it before…”, he said and chuckled.

“I wonder how people do it. Making up stories I mean.”

“You need characters, a plot and a world they live in. Then you sit in front of a document for hours and at the end of the day, you have nothing written.”

“Ah. …what are you working on right now?”

“I- I- wrote something about space.”

“That sounds interesting.”

“The main guy is falling in love with an alien.”

“I like space.”

“I don’t know where this is going yet. Or how they will confess. Basically the space ship landed in a forest and now the main character is taking care of the alien.”

“This had some ET vibes. I don’t often read books because I don’t really have the time but I’d love to read some of your stuff, if you let me.”

“Of course. It will be embarrassing as fuck, but… Also like I said there is still some stuff missing and the confession and where-”

Kevin watched him from the side with a smile. Daniel looked so pretty when he was excited. He looked always pretty. But especially as he talked about his writing, there was this glow in his eyes.

“I’ll never recover if you break my heart.”, Kevin said.

Daniel almost drove straight into a tree and let out a little scream.

Kevin just laughed while Daniel was still shaking from the almost-accident. “I almost broke a lot more of you.”

“That’s what your main character could say.”

“Oh. Right.”

~~~

When Dan had to stop the car in front of a huge wooden house, he had no idea where he was and how he should get back. He didn’t even want to go back.

“And maybe the Alien keeps getting him presents from the forest. Like pretty stones and stuff.”

“And the human asks why he is giving him that stuff.”

“But he really appreciates it and it means a lot to him.”

“I gave all the love I have because I love you.”, Kevin said, “…that’s what the alien could say.”

Daniel just looked at him, his eyes widened. 

“Would you like to come in for some ice cream?”, Kevin asked, still sitting next to him. Waiting.

“Ice cream?”

“Yes, midnight is the perfect time to eat ice cream.”, Kevin said.

Dan laughed. But then he hesitated. Was it really a good idea to follow this guy into his house in the middle of the night, in the middle of the woods where no one would be able to hear him scream? But Kiwo knew he was on a date with Kevin. Surely, Kevin knew that she knew and if anything happened to him…

And Kevin just looked at him with a cute smile.

“Ok, let’s eat some ice cream then.”, Dan chuckled.

And while Dan got his scarf from the backseat, Kevin walked around the car and opened the door for him, before he took his hand and helped him exit the vehicle.

As they walked up to the house, surrounded by a meadow and trees that were pretty hard to make out with only the help of the full moon, Dan was still holding his hand. It was a bit rough, probably from the woodwork, Kevin had told him about.

It seemed like a very lonely house. It had _cabin in the wood vibes_ although being actually made of stone and was a pretty huge house.

Kevin lead him to the kitchen and opened the fridge.

“Flavour?”

“Do you have something with dark chocolate?”

“I think there are some dark chocolate chips in the straciatella. Here you go.”, Kevin said and handed him the whole package, while he himself took a package of some colourful fruit mix.

“Thank you.”

“Wanna play some Payday2?”

“Sure.”


	4. The Forest

Kevin woke up on his couch next to two half full packages of melted ice cream and a headache. The place next to him was empty but still warm. At some point Dan had fallen asleep leaning against him when they had a break and watched some YouTube videos together. He had looked so cute, slightly drooling against his shoulder and hadn’t wanted to wake him. 

“I’m dedicating my victory to you.”, Kevin had whispered softly, and Dan had smiled in his sleep.

And before he knew he fell asleep cuddled against him.

Now the first rays of sunshine fell through the windows.

“Dan?”

No answer.

Maybe he was just in the bathroom. Still feeling dizzy, Kevin started to make breakfast, softly singing to himself. It took more time than he would like to admit until it dawned to him, that Dan was in fact not in the bathroom.

Dan was also nowhere else in the house.

This startled him more than he would like to admit.

What had he done wrong? There were no new messages on his phone and no note and-

He had really thought they had had something really special.

Kevin sat in the kitchen, breakfast made for both of them. The omelette hadn’t been warm anymore for a long time.

Maybe Dan had just went for a stroll and got lost.

In the forest. In the forest where there were all sorts of dangerous animals. Like spiders.

Maybe he was in danger.

Maybe Kevin should go and look for him.

Maybe -he was grasping for straws.

Worried, he put on his jacket and shoes anyway. After some consideration, he also took his knife with him.

When he opened the door a breeze of cold air greeted him.

In that night, summer had left and the air smelled of rain and coldness and dry leaves. It looked like fairies had sprinkled yellow and red ink over the trees at night.

Sure, it had been their first (technically second) meeting. And maybe, just maybe, things had went a little bit too fast, but before that first date, they had written lots of text messages.

Dan’s car was still there.

But Dan was not in there.

_Feck._

He walked for a while, dry leafs rustling underneath his steps.

Then he ran.

~~~

“DAN!”, Kevin yelled as he saw a bundle of clothes on the ground.

He ran and got on his knees next to him.

“I stepped into a bear trap.”

“I can see that. Why did you step into a bear trap?”

“I-”

Kevin put both of his hands on each side of the bear trap and opened it.

“Ok, stupid question. I mean why were you walking around here?”, Kevin said.

And Dan screamed out in pain as an answer. Then he stared at Kevin. This man had just broken a bear trap with his bare hands.

When his leg started to feel numb again, Dan looked up.

“It’s stupid.”

“Tell me.”, Kevin said softly.

Dan shook his head as tears were streaming down his face.

Very carefully, Kevin picked him up from the ground. He gave his best not to shake him, while walking.

For the whole time Dan had his head leaned against his shoulder, quietly whimpering in pain.

Until.

Kevin softly started to hum a melody.

Back inside he sat him on the couch, while Dan hissed in pain.

“Thank feck you didn’t meet any bears.”, Kevin said. He got out the knife from his pocket -

“NO!”, Dan yelled and retracted his leg, hissing in pain.

“Dan, I need to clean the wound and put a bandage on it.”

“This was a 1,650$ Valentino suit from Harrods. My brother gave it to me.”

“A what from what?”

“Don’t you dare cut the leg off.”

“It’s already torn and blood stained.”

“This still can be fixed.”

“I can’t believe we are arguing about this, while you are bleeding out on my couch.”, Kevin mumbled as he opened Dans pants and helped him out of them, which was a really painful procedure for both parties involved.

“It’s barely bleeding at all. I just made it worse when I tried to open it with a stick.”

“Thank feck this wasn’t one of these cartoon bear traps, but one to just hold the animal.”

“I wonder what it was doing there. Should there even be bears here?”

Kevin cleaned the wound and bandaged it without saying another word. Then he brought him a blanket.

“Are you going to tell me what you were doing out there?”

“I wanted to pick some flowers.”

“Why?”

“I said it was stupid.”

“Why would you pick flowers?”

“Because you gave me flowers yesterday and …” Dan shook his head.

“That’s very sweet of you.”, Kevin said. They locked eyes. Blue and a slightly darker shade of blue.

“Wait! Can you get me my notebook from my car?”

Kevin stood still.

“Sure.”

“Thank you. The keys are in my pants.”, Dan said.

“I’ll be right back.”

“WAIT!”

“Yeah?”

“Can I use your phone?”

“Of course.”

“I have to call work and tell them I can’t come today.”

He gave him his phone so he could use the landline and went outside to the car. He took the book, the flowers and also the chocolate.

~~~

When Kevin came back with the notebook, Dan was hiding his face in the cushion of the couch.

“Are you ok?”

“They fired me.”, Dan said.

“What? They can’t just do that.”

“They just did.”

“I’m so sorry, Dan.”

He carefully sat next to him and hugged him.

“Are you ok? Can I help with anything?”

“I’m ok. Now I’ll really need to finish that book.”

“Here is your notebook then. You can do it!”, Kevin said and gave him a small kiss on the forehead, before he got up to bring him the breakfast he had prepared.

~~~

“They’ll be much too big but here are some pants.”, Kevin said as he came back once more.

“Thank you.”

“Do you need help?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Just yell for me when you need anything.”

Dan nodded and Kevin disappeared into the kitchen just long enough for Dan to get fully dressed again.

“Let me help you stand up.”

“It’s ok. You don’t have to carry me around again.”

“Ok. But you are in no state to drive home.”, Kevin said and two minutes later, he came back with a pillow and another blanket.

And exactly twelve minutes later Dan fell back asleep, notebook open on his chest. As Kevin walked past him to bring him some tea, it fell to the floor. Kevin picked it up to put it on the table.

_“I’ll never recover if you break my heart.”, young man with the hazelnut hair whispered._

_“I gave all the love I have because I love you.”, the tall irish man replied._

_They leaned in for a kiss and_

Kevin smiled as he read the last words written. Then he quickly closed it and put it on the table besides the couch.

~~~

An hour later Kevin was making lunch for both of them, when his phone rang.

“Yeah, our first date was good.”, Kevin said with a cheeky smile as he made eye contact with Dan who was sitting at the table, waiting. And hungry.

Kiwo on the other hand could be heard squealing through the phone,

Dan covered his mouth so she wouldn’t hear him giggle.

“He’s a charming lad and I like him very much.”, Kevin said with a wink.

The squealing intensified.

“Tell me everything!”, Dan could hear Kiwo yell. Then the verbal equivalent of a key smash.

“Sorry, I gotta go now. I'm ... cooking. Talk to you later.”

“I’ll give her two minutes until she calls me.”, Dan chuckled, “…Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You talk in your sleep.”

“What did I say?”

“You said that you hate the Dublin spire.”

“Yeah. Sounds like me.”

Then Dans phone rang.

“Hi, Kiwo.”, he said with a wide grin.

“Yeah it was ok, I guess.”, he said with a dramatic shrug.

Kevin pouted at him, but Dan took his hand and squeezed it gently.

“No.....Yes.....He is an idiot and I want him to be my idiot.”


	5. The Aquarium

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stan and small gay guitar helped a lot with ocean-facts. Huge Thank You to them. <3

The day went by fastly. They played more video games and Dan kept writing notes on how to progress is stories and at night they fell asleep watching YouTube videos again.

His leg had healed enough to walk normally again and it had barely left a small scar.

In the morning, Dan woke up to the sound of Kevin singing in the kitchen and the smell of burnt breakfast.

“I’d like to remind you, that you promised me a second date.”, Kevin said after they had finished breakfast.

“Kevin, I just got fired.”

“Then you have time to go on your promised second date right.”

“Right now?”

“Right now.”

A smile spread across his face. Kevin stretched out his hand towards him. Dan took it. He didn’t let go, until he had to sit down in the car.

“You make me feel like a warm cup of coffee on the porch in the morning on a Sunday.”, he whispered, before he helped him into the car.

~~~

There were so may fish and Dan had to make a photo of all of them. Or at least he said so. Mostly he took photos of Kevin.

“Why did the fish blush?”, the taller one asked.

“I don’t know, why did it blush, Kevin?”

“It saw the oceans bottom.”

Dan laughed.

“Look at me, I’m very sofishticated.”, he replied.

“I’m thinking about going online but I heard it can be very dangerous. Because of the fishing websides.”, Kevin said.

Dan giggled so hard he hiccuped.

“This one wasn’t even good.”, Kevin said.

“That’s enough fish puns. I think we should scale back.”, Dan said.

They watched the fish and Dan read some of the descriptions to Kevin.

“Now that I’m thinking about it, a startling amount of sea life is either poisonous, venomous, or dangerous in a very unique way. Like there is for example the percussive bubble bastard, or electric eels or morays…”, Kevin whispered as they walked into a darker room.

“Or angler fish.”, Dan said.

“Speaking of angler fish, did you know that only the females have the lantern doodad?”

“Oh? Really? I did not know that.”, Dan said and took another photo of Kevin.

“The males are small and they reproduce by melting into the female. Like. Literally fusing. And the female then has the male reproductive parts attached.

There is no limit to how many males can do this with a single female, beyond just having space for them all.”

“It’s the second date and you are already talking about reproduction?”

Kevin just chuckled and then he pointed at another tank: “The Portuguese Man O War is a deadly beast. And I love him for it.”

“That sounds terrifying! Tell me more!”

“These lads can be nearly 170 feet long. …Or, rather, their tentacles can.”

“Fuck, that’s terrifying. Keep going.”, Dan said and stepped closer to him to hold his hand.

“They are rarely deadly to humans, but that’s not much consolation, because they leave some very painful welts when they sting you.

The world’s most potent venom is that of the box jellyfish, which CAN kill you.”, Kevin explained as he walked from tank to tank, “The Blue-Ringed Octopus is also very deadly, as is the Marble-Cone Snail.”

It took him a while to notice, how shaken Dan actually was.

“Hey, no need to worry. I won’t let anything happen to you. -Mainly because these glass tanks are thicc as feck.”, Kevin said. 

And regardless of how stupid that sounded, it somehow calmed Dan down.

“I love sea life so so much but goddamn is it terrifying.”, Dan said.

“It sure as feck is!”

Then a group of elementary school children walked past them. As soon as they were gone, Dan wrapped his arms around Kevin and leaned his head against his shoulder as they watched a tiny jelly fish that came close to the glass and seemed to watch them back.

Kevin cleared his throat, running a hand down Dan’s back absent-mindedly. “Also, I’ve noticed a lot of animals that are “prehistoric” in the sense that they existed in the same form thousands of years ago are, in fact, aquatic. For example the coelacanth, the sturgeon, and so on. And that’s pretty … _pogchamps_ as the cool kids say.”

“I’m sure the cool kids don’t say that.”, Dan chuckled.

“A good portion of earth’s oxygen production happens entirely in the ocean, and on a microscopic level -phytoplankton be the real _pogchamps_.”

Dan laughed again. It just sounded wrong, coming out of Kevin's mouth.

“Sorry, for ranting.”

“I loved listening to you. Don’t worry about it.”

“…What’s your second favourite ocean fact, Dan?”

Dan thought about it for a while as they slowly kept walking, admiring the fish. “I like that every family of whales has their own dialect and accent and sometimes the same races can’t understand each other. I like whales.”

“Whales are awesome.”

At the end of a long hallway, was a restaurant.

“Now we can eat what we looked at.”, Kevin said, before he ordered something for both of them.

“Kev, I think I found Nemo.”, Dan said staring at his sandwich.

“And I think I got Dory. Will you excuse me for a second?”

“A second and not a second longer.”

They smiled at each other. Then Kevin leaned forward and placed a small kiss on his forehead, before he went to look for a bathroom.

Meanwhile Dan got out his notebook.

_The mysterious stranger met the hero again in the depth of a labyrinth. The walls were of shining colours. He knew his heart belonged to him._

_They kissed chastly._

_“Will we meet again?”_

_“We will.”_

_With this question answered, there only stayed one question open:_

“ _Would he kill again?”_

Dan sighed. Kevin was so cool and mysterious and…

he got lost in his thoughts.

And as Kevin came back and just smiled at him, he forgot all of his worries.

~~~

In the evening they sat together watching the sunset at the top of the roof. They were both afraid of heights and they didn’t know anymore whos idea it had been in the first place and why in the world the other one had agreed to this.

And it was the most romantic thing anyone had ever done with him.

“Why are you so quiet?”, Dan asked. He wrapped his arms around Kevin as the taller one seemed to shudder in the cold breeze. Kevin would very rarely shut up. That was one of the things Dan loved about Kevin. That it never got boring with him. That he needed constant attention. That he was joking all the time. Making up stories. Doing those little harmless pranks.

“I’m thinking.”, Kevin said. Then he took his hand and squeezed it, gently.

“What are you thinking about?”, Dan asked, half worried, half with humour in his voice.

“You. Mostly.” The sun had almost set and in the distance behind trees the first houses turned on their lights. Kevin looked at Dan and Dan looked at Kevin, while around them the sky turned red and orange and pink. Then the sun was gone.

“But that never stopped you from talking and-”

“Being annoying?”

“Yes. An absolute nuisance.”, Dan replied with a chuckle. In his eyes he could see the stars shining and there was no point to look anywhere else than in Dan’s eyes.

“I’m sorry, Dan-”

“Don’t be. I wouldn’t change this for the world. That’s why I’m asking why are you so quiet? Is something wrong, Kevin?”

He looked so nervous and absolutely adorable.

“It gets hard to come up with the right words to say how much I love you because when I look at you my mind becomes void of everything except the light that your beauty has filled my mind with. All I see is you, all I feel is you, and all I love is you.”

“I- I- I- Oh fuck. Kevin. That was...” he shook his head. 

“I’m so sorry, if this is too fast, I-”

Dan shook his head. “No, it’s not too fast. I’m just- This is-”

Kevin just ran a hand through his hair and Dan closed his eyes as their faces got closer. He felt like flying and he felt like falling. His lips were dry but soft.

“Let’s go back inside before we fall, down.”, Kevin whispered after the kiss had ended. All Dan wanted was a second one, but he followed him back inside, anyway.

As they walked down the hall leading to the bedroom, Dan suddenly pushed him against the wall to kiss him again. 

And as he got pushed against the wall, some keys fell out of his pocket. 

“Oh, sorry.”, Dan said and quickly picked them up, while Kevin bit his lips.

The taller one tried to take them back immediately, but Dan held them out of reach.

“Why do you need so many keys for the… basement?”

“No reason at all.”

“What?”

A lot more quickly, than Dan could react to, the taller one picked him up, took the keys from him and sat him back down.

“…Kevin?”

“We don’t talk about the basement. Not yet.”, Kevin said defensively.

“…Ok.”

“Good.”, Kevin replied and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, before he added: “I’ll get some popcorn and we could play some Portal 2. What do you think?”

“Yeah. Sure.”, Dan said and it was hard to hide his disappointment.

~~~

Hours later Kevin had once again fallen asleep on the couch next to him. Very carefully, so he wouldn’t wake him, Dan got out his notebook.

_“I wouldn’t change this for the world. That’s why I’m asking why are you so quiet? Is something wrong, love?”_

_“It gets hard to come up with the right words to say how much I love you because when I look at you my mind becomes void of everything except the light that your beauty has filled my mind with. All I see is you, all I feel is you, and all I love is you.”_

_“I- I- I- Oh fuck. That was...” he shook his head. The taller one just ran a hand through his hair and he closed his eyes as their faces got closer. He felt like flying and he felt like falling. And then he fell._

_“I got you.”, the handsome Irish man said. He hung at the edge of the roof holding onto his hand._

_“Let go of me, love.”_

_“I’m certainly not letting go of you.”, the tall handsome irish man hissed. He had his eyes shut close, unable to look down._

_“But-”_

_“Feck my shoulders I’m not letting go.”, he yelled._

_“Love, you need to let me go.”, the younger one said as calmly as he could._

_“No.”_

_“Love, I’m ten centimeters above the balcony, you eejit.”_

_“Oh.”, Kevin said and opened his eyes. He let go of him and then let himself fall next to him._

_“I thought I had broken you.”_

_“I’m fine, Love.” He cupped his cheek again and made him look at him._

_“Are you sure, cupcake? How are you feeling?”_

_“As a bot, it feels so good to be loved. I grew up always feeling angry. No movie hero ever fell for the monster. It shaped me, seeing myself only through the lens of unloved diabolical Hollywood robots.”_

_“But...”_

_“Yes. I do love you back. …You are my human. Every robot has one human. One they will always love no matter what, and if the robot can no longer serve that human, people will still tell who it is.”_

_And on the balcony they finally kissed. The tall handsome funny and cute Irish man had expected it to taste metallic, but it didn’t. It tasted like trust and home and laughter. After the kiss had ended, they leaned their foreheads against each other._

_“People will never except a relationship between a human and a robot.”, he whispered_

_“We don’t need people. We only need each other.”, the shorter one replied. And the human kissed him again. He knew, that it was true. The revolution would come and he knew which side he was on. He would be on his true love’s side, whatever might happen._

He closed the notebook and watched Kevin sleep for a while. He seemed so calm and peaceful. And more importantly: He looked like he couldn’t hurt a fly.

What the hell was happening in the basement?

…Should he just steal the keys and look?

Absent mindedly, he rean his fingers over Kevin's arm. In his sleep he smiled and cuddled closer to him.

Dan couldn’t bring himself to steal the keys.


	6. The Farm

A few days went by and Dan looked for a new job. But he couldn’t really find anything that was suitable for him. He stayed at Kevin’s place, because Kevin had convinced him to. He couldn't remember ever feeling so much love.

Kevin inspired him to write. Despite what he had said on their first date, Kevin was the most interesting person he had ever met. He loved every minute with him.

And he continued writing stories.

-And wondering what Kevin’s secret was. 

He was so nice and a true gentleman and maybe it was just Dan’s phantasie that made him think that there was something, Kevin was hiding.

Sometimes Kevin would disappear for hours in the house, while his car still stood outside. He would lock himself in the basement. And sometimes Dan would hear him talk. Very faintly. It was just quiet enough, so he wouldn’t understand what he was saying. And then there was the list he had found…

~~~

One evening, Kevin took him to a picnic. (Sandwiches, cake and juice.) It was a beautiful meadow near a farm. They saw sheep, horses, cows and goats. Kevin even managed to pet a goat. They walked together for a long time. Hand in hand. Dan loved every second of it. They talked about all sorts of things. Mostly video games, but also childhood stories. For example, Kevin told three different stories about how he got the scar on his face, which made Daniel laugh and watch him with heart-eyes.

They didn't notice the sky getting darker and darker.

Until suddenly there was a storm. It had seemingly come out of nowhere.

Thunder and lightning were very close to them and Dan got scared as they had went too far away from the car to make it back in time. 

“We need to find some place to hide.”, Dan yelled over the raging rain.

“There is a farmhouse.”, Kevin yelled back.

Dan couldn’t see how, but somehow, Kevin managed to break the lock and they both went inside before Kevi closed the door behind them again. Luckily there was a light switch. And there wasn’t much else beside two chickens and a lot of straw.

The chickens didn’t want to be petted, though. So they left them alone. 

Suddenly Kevin stood very close to him.

“Dan, I gotta tell you something.” 

“Tell me what?” 

“You know what they say about third dates? ... Because I don’t know. So please tell me if you know.” 

Dan laughed. “I’m moist.” 

“I might be moist, too.” 

“May I?” 

His hair was everything but floof now, as Kevin ran a hand through it. Dan closed the last distance between them. His lips were cold but soft. Much too soon, Kevin broke the kiss and started to pick up hay and put it in a pile. Dan watched him. When he was finished, he sat down at the side of it and gestured for Dan to sit next to him. “Do you like the nest I made for you?” 

“It’s very pretty, Kevin.”, Dan said as he arranged his long legs on the nest. 

“In bird culture you’d have to lay an egg now.”, Kevin said and pulled him into a hug and Dan started to chuckle uncontrollably.

“You know what comes before?” 

“No, explain it to me, Dan. Explain it in every detail.” 

“... If two birds love each other very much...”, Dan started, but he couldn’t continue because he laughed too much. 

“Would you like to be my... bird?” 

“Yes, I would.” He pulled him down to him so he would sit in his lap.

“Kevin.”, he gasped. He kissed him like he hadn’t kissed him before. Everything around him disappeared and there was only Kevin. Taking his breath away, while filling his heart with life. When Kevin’s cold hands found their way under his shirt, Dan shuddered. The taller one immediately stopped. 

“Are you cold?”, he asked. 

“No?” Dan kissed him again, but Kevin leaned back.

“Ok. Maybe a little.”, Dan said. 

“Then it might not be a good idea to make you... Uhhh. Lose your feathers.”, Kevin replied with a soft smile and let go of him, to rearrange the straw bed to make it more comfortable. It was still more of a pile, really.

Dan sat back. Disappointed. 

“Ok, let’s just try to sleep then.” 

“Hibernation time for the birds.”, Kevin mumbled.

“Birds fly to the South.” 

The taller one ignored it. “Let me keep you warm.” Kevin wrapped his arms around him from behind. It felt like being hugged by a huge warm... Well. Like a huge warm Kevin. He listened to him breathing, trying to concentrate on only that and not on the noise of the raging rain, the thunder and wind. Only Kevin.

And very quietly he heard him mumble into his neck the words: “I love you.” 

~~~ 

The warmth seemed to fade as the night went on.

Dan couldn’t sleep at all. The straw was very uncomfortable and the thunder made him jump every time. He had to think of the list with the 86 names again. 

“Are you ok?”, Kevin suddenly asked quietly and made him jump once more.

Dan hesitated, before he asked: “Why did you have blood on your sleeve on our first date?” 

Kevin chuckled. “Ok, that’s embarrassing.... I was very excited to meet you. And. ...I had a nose bleed. Hey don’t laugh at me. I was late because I had a nose bleed and I had to change again.” 

“I’m so sorry.” Dan leaned forward and gave his nose a small kiss. Then he ran a hand through his hair. 

“Kevin.”, he whispered

“Daniel.”, Kevin whispered back.


	7. The Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for angst. But it will be resolved very quickly.

“Kevin, I got a job at the theater!”, Daniel yelled as he checked his E-Mails two days later.

“That’s amazing, Cupcake! I’m so proud of you.”, Kevin said as he ran into the living room to hug Daniel.

They kissed, letting themselves fall onto the couch together.

“I need to tell Kiwo. …Maybe you get a bit comfortable until I come back.”, he said with a wink as he stood up.

Kevin smiled as he watched him leave the room. Just as he wanted to get out of his socks first, he noticed, that Dan’s notebook had fallen to the floor, sides open. He picked it up to put it back on the table.

Wait.

_As he looked up at him, he admired his beauty in the flickering light of the candles._

_His hair was something between a dark strawberry blond and a dark blond with a few ginger strands and when the light was right, he was almost entirely ginger._

_But his_ _hair wasn’t the only thing that was a mystery to him._

_He had the kind eyes and the voice of an angel. But behind that, there was something a lot darker._

_“Of all humans, you repulse me the least.”, the tall handsome serial killer said._

_Then he pinned him against the wall and-_

Kevin chuckled. He turned the page.

“You don’t really think, I’m a serial killer, right?”, Kevin asked as Dan entered the room.

“You read my notes!”, he said. After two steps, he was right in front of him and ripped the book from his hands.

“This didn’t sound like a ‘no‘.”, Kevin said in confusion.

“How dare you-”

“You said it was ok.”

“But not without telling me first, you complete-”

“Complete what?”

“I’m moving out.”

“When did you even move in?”

They stared at each other’s faces and Kevin could point out the second Dan’s heart broke.

“How many people have you killed? 86? I know what you are doing in the basement.”

“You think I-”

“You know what hurts the most? You don’t even trust me enough to tell me.”

“You didn’t even say that you love me. I told you I love you several times and you never said it back. What, if I told you what is in my basement and you just decide it’s not worth it?”, Kevin said, getting louder at the end of his sentence.

“What if… what if- what if you just fucking shut up?”, Dan suddenly screamed.

Kevin got very pale suddenly.

“Leave my house right fecking now.”, he whispered.

Dan took his jacket and phone and opened the door. He stopped.

Slowly he turned around and seemed to look straight into Kevin’s soul.

“You know what is the worst?”, Dan quietly said, “I do love you. I love you like I never loved anyone before. Regardless of whatever you are. I love you, Kevin. You are the best person I ever met and I fell for you the second you first smiled at me like the fucking fool I am. …And I will never recover.”

“Dan-”, Kevin said quietly.

But the door was closed.

~~~

He had fucked up. He had fucked up worse than he could imagine.

Dan leaned his head against the cold steering wheel. Then he punched it. He wished Kevin would come out of the house and stop him and they would talk, so he could tell him he was sorry and-

He sat in the cold car for an hour. Waiting.

Kevin didn’t come.

The drive home was longer than he remembered.

His flat was dusty. It had always been dusty, but now he hadn’t been there for several weeks, somehow.

When he hung up his jacket, the notebook fell out of his pocket.

This cursed stupid notebook.

He picked it up from the floor and took it into the kitchen. Tears in his eyes, he searched through the drawers. Then he found the lighter. 

He watched the book burn in the sink until the sink was covered in black. Then he turned on the water and watched the words die.

The only sound was his clock ticking on the wall as he sat on his cold bed.

He lied down and stared at the ceiling. 

He counted the cracks in the ceiling and counted them again.

But behind his eyelids, he only saw Kevin.

His heart felt numb and his face felt wet. 

He stared at his phone for a moment.

_Why can’t he call, so I can ignore him?_

_…I don’t want to ignore him._

He went back to counting the cracks in the ceiling.

1

2

3

....

He must have fallen asleep, because when he looked at his phone because it wouldn’t stop ringing, he had 35 missed calls. Most of them from Kiwo.

“Kiwo. What do you want?”

“You know what helps with heart break?”, Kiwo asked annoyingly cheerful.

“Dying.”

“No. Friendship! Let’s meet at the Pub. Half an hour.”

“But-”

"Don't worry, I'll be by your side."

"Kiwo-"

She had hung up.

He stared at the lockscreen of his phone. A photo of Kevin at the Aquarium. Kevin smiling next to a tiny Jelly fish.

A tear ran down his cheek, as he looked for his keys.

~~~

They arrived at the Pub at the same time.

“Why did I know you would pull that stunt.”, Dan mumbled when he saw Kiwo.

“Because you know me.”

Kevin, who of course -and how else could it be- stood next to her, crossed his arms. When Dan stepped closer and looked up to him, he saw his eyes were red as if he had cried a lot and it hurt his heart.

“You two absolute spoons love each other and you need to talk.”, Kiwo said.

“I’m so sorry, Kevin, for what I said.”

“You don’t have to be-”

“Accept my apology, you fucker.”, Dan said, smiling with tears in his eyes. He blinked.

“I accept your apology and I’m sorry, too.”

“And I accept your apology, too.”

They hugged.

“Then let’s go to my place and play some golf with friends and-”

“Dan, I have to tell you something and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier but I’m-”

“Don’t-”, Dan said, “I don’t want you to get into trouble. I know-”

“I’m a 2.5 Million Subscriber Youtuber. My gaming room is in the basement.”

“I thought you are a serial killer.”

“I’m a youtuber.”, Kevin repeated, "....I kill people ...but in video games."

“Absolute spoons.”, Kiwo mumbled more to herself, then she added louder: “I’ll leave you to it. You can thank me later.”

They watched her go.

“Are you mad at me?”, Dan asked.

“How could I be mad at you? Maybe I should be fecking afraid of you. You thought I killed how many? 84 people and you decided you were ok with it as long as I-”

Dan kissed him.

“As long as we are together.”, Dan whispered.

Kevin cupped his face and kissed him again.

“Also you helped me write that damn book. But-”

“I’m glad I could help.”, Kevin chuckled. “I want you to move in with me.”

“I will.”

They hugged and Dan took a deep breath.

“I burnt all the pages I wrote.”, he whispered against his chest.

“And I remember every word I read.”

They kissed again.

“I love you, Kevin. Always have.”


	8. Epilog

**-Three years later-**

_“You smell like a late August midday sunshower.”, he hears a voice whispering close to him. That’s the last thing you want to hear, when you walk through a dark alley in the middle of the night. Now it’s fight or flight. But D. is frozen. “We haven’t seen each other in a fecking long time.”, the voice says._

_“Oh, it’s you.”, D. relaxes. He turns around and in the light of the full moon, he sees Kevin looking at him. D. gives him a warm smile, but something about the way he looks at him feels slightly off._

_His voice had sounded different. Weaker. He almost hadn’t recognized it. And now the way he looked at him was somehow ...hungry. He stepped closer to him, but K. stepped back. “Are you alright, love?”_

_It wasn’t the same hunger he had seen in the flickering light of the candles, the night before. K. shook his head and D. moved quickly forward and the next moment he was holding his hands. It was weird that they were suddenly very cold._

_“I promised you that I will defend you from all the dangers you will face, no matter how far away.”, K. said reluctantly._

_“You did, but-”_

_“What if I am the danger?”, he said and D. had never heard him sound so unhappy._

_“What makes you say that?” K. opened his mouth and D. saw his teeth. They had always been shiny and pointy, but now…_

_“Oh.”, D. said, before K. could find the right words. “Oh?”_

_Without another word, D. started walking and just pulled K. with him. They walked until they arrived in front of D.s house. Since he had already been invited inside a month ago for the first time and had after that visited D. many times, he had no problem entering the house. He sat down on his favourite chair and watched D. light candles and prepare some kind of tea for both of them. The hunger seemed to eat him from the inside and as his stomach made a loud noise D. turned to look at him. He placed two cups of tea on the table and sat down in front of K._

_“I may have not been completely honest with you either, love.”_

_“Oh, feck, you are married, are you?”_

_“Fuck no. I wasn’t lieing when I said that I love you, but...”_

_“Ok. Phew. You really scared me.”, K. said and reached over the table so they could hold hands again. And as he held his hands, rubbing his thumb over his palm, gently, he could feel his pulse, feel the blood floating through D. He took in the features of his face, while D. searched for words. So. Gorgeous. So. Alive._

_“I’m not really ... love, I... actually king Jack send me to take care of the vampire problem.”_

_“What?”_

_“I’m a vampire slayer, love.”_

_“Oh, feck.”_

_“But then something happened.”_

_“The killings stopped.”, K. said quietly._

_“The killings stopped.”, D. repeated, “…Why did they stop?”_

_“You... You taught me how to share, how to listen, how to nurture, how to care. You taught me how to love. Cupcake, I-”_

_D. reached over the table, grabbed his face with both his hands and kissed him, until they ended up on the other side of the room._

_“What are you going to do now?”, K. whispered after they broke apart, because D., being very human after all, had to breathe._

_“I’m so sorry, Cupcake, but I’ll have to eat something or I will die. Die more than I’m actually dead right now, I mean die even harder I mean-”_

_“Shhhh. there is no ‘I’ anymore. There is a ‘we’.”, D. said and grabbed his shirt from the floor that he had lost there, somehow in the course of the events happening in the darkness of the room._

_“What are we doing then?”, K. asked, looking up at him as D. opened a drawer and took something shining out of it._

_“We are going to kill some villagers, because my boyfriend needs to eat.”_

Daniel sighs. He has most of the plotpoints, but the names are still missing. 

It’s a slow night at the theater where Daniel works, especially for a Sunday. There are only a few actors scattered around the stage, and only one man at the audience seats. He’s been nursing the same script for half an hour, and he keeps checking his phone and rolling his eyes.

“Is everything alright?” Daniel asks when he walks past Kevin again. He is glad, he is helping out with the new script and just his overall support and being this wonderful human being.

“Yes, yes,” his fiance says and chuckles before Dan gives him a quick kiss. “I’m just, ah, waiting for something.” Then he looks up and smiles at him with bright eyes. “Kiwo wanted to pick me up to go to the cinema together, but she is late again.”

“When is she not?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> Please let me know what you think.  
> Comments really make my day. -From indepth analysis to simple key smash - all comments are appreciated.
> 
> ~~~
> 
> Huge thank you to the discord server for always being there and helping out and just being wonderful people.  
> Huge cult hug to everyone.  
> And enjoy the rest of your day or night <3


End file.
